Bihu in Bengaluru

The Assamese community in this South Indian city celebrated a hi-tech Bihu with pomp, gaiety and livestreaming

Bangalore is home to a strong Assamese community, close to three lakh working professionals who are also actively involved in various socio-cultural and youth welfare activities. Assam Society of Bangalore (ASOB), established in 1982, is a not for profit, socio-cultural and youth welfare organization, that represents the entire Assamese community residing, working and studying in Bangalore.

This year in April, the Society the Assamese harvest festival Rongali Bihu in a grand manner and they live streamed the event for the first time with the help of Airtel 4G. Titled ‘Bohagi Adoroni 2013’, this year was the 15th time that the ASOB celebrated the annual Bihu function at Bangalore.

The six-hour long program saw some feet-tapping bihu song and dance performed by members of ASOB along with ‘Bihu Konwori’ contest and Group Bihu Contest. The star attractions were the popular singing duo of Dikshu and Priyanka.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Simanta Sharma, Chief Advisor, ASOB said, “The annual bihu celebrations of the Assam Society of Bangalore brings the entire Assamese and most of the Northeast community together in a total festive spirit of fun, frolic and gay abandon.”

The ‘Bohagi Adoroni 2013’ was organized at the centrally located Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium and witnessed a turnout of close to 5000 people. The Honorable Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri R Ashok, was the Chief Guest of the programme. Speaking on the occasion he said, “Assam and Karnataka share a similar rich cultural heritage and it is a pleasure to celebrate the A ssamese New Year of Rongali Bihu along with the Karnataka New Year of Ugadi.”

The Bohagi Adoroni 2013 was also organized to do a thanksgiving to the Government of Karnataka for the excellent support rendered during the exodus crisis of 2012. Samarjeet Ghosh, President of Assam Society of Bangalore, said, “Assam Society of Bangalore is indebted to the Government of Karnataka and in particular the Home Ministry of Karnataka for the excellent support rendered during the exodus crisis of 2012. We thank the Bangalore City Police for ensuring that the unfortunate incident was swiftly brought under control very efficiently and effectively.”

The annual Bihu celebrations showcases the beautiful culture and heritage of Assam in its entirety with some fabulous Bihu song and dance performances by members of Assam Society as well as students from Assam. Speaking on the occasion, Pranjal Medhi, General Secretary, Assam Society of Bangalore said, “The bihu celebrations showcases the rich and beautiful cultural heritage of Assam in all its glory. The occasion provides the opportunity in showcasing positive aspect of Assam amidst the negativity associated in genera. We are very proud of our rich cultural heritage and will always strive to preserve the same.”

A unique aspect of this year’s Bihu was the live streaming of the entire evening’s proceedings over Airtel’s 4-G broadband network. Speaking on the occasion, Techi & Ex-IBMer & Assistant General Secretary of ASOB, Dipankar Kalita said, “In this age of information technology we believe that the bihu celebrations need not be confined to geographical limitations. The Assamese community has now global footprints and the need to facilitate a connect to the diaspora is that much more. We are extremely happy that this year ’s Bihu was witnessed and celebrated by 10 lakh Assamese people across the globe all connected to Bangalore via the wonderful world of IT.”

This year’s Bihu celebrations also witnessed the largest ever assimilation of various type of corporate sponsors. This is an indicator of the fact that there are many corporate entities who wish to reach out to the very strong and evolved Assamese community as an aspect of goodwill generation.